Bilabial consonants are very common across languages. Only around 0.7% of the world's languages lack bilabial consonants altogether, including
Tlingit,
Chipewyan,
Oneida, and
Wichita,[1] though all of these have a labial–velar approximant /w/.
The
IPA chart shades out bilabial lateral consonants, which is sometimes read as indicating that such sounds are not possible. The fricatives [ɸ] and [β] are often lateral, but since no language makes a distinction for centrality, the allophony is not noticeable.
^Maddieson, Ian (2008),
"Absence of Common Consonants", in Haspelmath, Martin; Dryer, Matthew S.; Gil, David; Comrie, Bernard (eds.), The World Atlas of Language Structures Online, Munich: Max Planck Digital Library
^de Souza, Isaac Costa (2010).
"3"(PDF). A Phonological Description of "Pet Talk" in Arara (MA). SIL Brazil. Archived from
the original(PDF) on 2013-10-12. Retrieved 2014-01-09.
^Crawford, James M. (1973). "Yuchi Phonology". International Journal of American Linguistics. 39 (3): 173–179.
doi:
10.1086/465261.
S2CID224808560.
McDorman, Richard E. (1999). Labial Instability in Sound Change: Explanations for the Loss of /p/. Chicago: Organizational Knowledge Press.
ISBN0-9672537-0-5.
Olson, Kenneth S. (2004).
"Mono"(PDF). Journal of the International Phonetic Association. 34 (2): 233–238.
doi:10.1017/S0025100304001744.
Valenzuela, Pilar M.; Márquez Pinedo, Luis; Maddieson, Ian (2001).
"Shipibo". Journal of the International Phonetic Association. 31 (2): 281–285.
doi:10.1017/S0025100301002109.